Chang'an is good

He was a middle-aged man in his early 40s. His navy blue gown was stained with mud. He had an upright appearance, but there seemed to be a gloomy look between his eyebrows. His beard, which had not been taken care of for some time, looked a little messy at the moment. It made him feel even more depressed.

At first glance, he looks like a typical depressed middle-aged scholar.

"This time it was this gentleman who accompanied me to inspect the embankments of the Yellow River and temporarily dredge the main roads." Cui Jing introduced it, but it seemed that he did not introduce it at all.

He didn't mention the other party's name and identity at all, only calling him Mr.

But Cui Jing clearly explained the contribution of this gentleman: "Each section of the Yellow River has been blocked for many years, and the embankments are in disrepair. If it hadn't been for Mr.'s guidance this time, the Yellow River would have overflowed by now."

Cui Jing never deliberately exaggerated when speaking. Chang Suining was in awe, raised his hand and bowed deeply to the other party, saying sincerely: "Sir, you are a great virtue."

This is by no means a compliment.

Since the floods have developed, thousands of houses have collapsed in nearby states. She has seen with her own eyes too many people killed and injured, and the farmland has become a vast ocean.

And if the Yellow River breaks its banks again, the situation will only get worse. Maybe they won't even have the chance to build a shelter at this time.

Looking at that man, shepherd's purse also had respect in his eyes, and couldn't help but say: "Sir's great contribution has saved countless lives. It is best to be a court official!"

But the man smiled bitterly silently, and said: "It's all about human affairs. The Yellow River embankment has been faulty for a long time, and it has been pushed up and down. It has been delayed until now. This time, Ling'an and I just forcibly dredged and reinforced it. We have done everything we can do now. , if the rain does not stop, within five days, the damned person will still die."

These depressing words made Shepherd's Purse temporarily confused as to how to answer the question.

"It doesn't matter, a person's life will be nothing more than death sooner or later." The man turned around, waded through the water that covered his ankles, and walked up to a higher place, while whispering: "Rise and fall have their own determined cause and effect, and God will die. So, what can we ordinary people do?"

Shepherd's Purse opened her mouth. This gentleman is really depressed. If he is thrown into the enemy's camp, one person may bring down the morale of the entire army. Everyone has lost their swords and guns, so let's hug each other and cry.

The news of Cui Jing's arrival did not alarm the victims. The officials in the county just thought that someone came to meet General Ningyuan. They did not know that the person coming was Governor Cui.

Chang Suining and Cui Jing walked to a slightly higher place and sat down on a stone to talk. Just as A Dian was about to follow, Yuan Xiang pulled him aside to talk: "...General A Dian, why is there so many people around Mrs. Chang? "

This is purely looking for something to say, to divert Ah Dian's attention, Ah Dian lowered her voice, mysteriously and somewhat proudly said: "I picked it up!"

Then he whispered: "But you have to stay away from her, she bites!"

Yuan Xiang looked surprised and asked further questions, successfully holding A Dian back.

"You should already know everything about Luoyang." Chang Suining sat on a boulder, straightened his tired legs, looked at the lights in front of where the victims gathered, and said, "You come back now, Are you asking for trouble?"

It was inevitable that Emperor Shengce would use this incident to wipe out the Luoyang gentry. He specifically ordered Cui Jing to lead Xuance's army to stay and suppress them, which was obviously a "test" in mind.

Because the target of the Holy Emperor is not just the Luoyang noble family, this knife will soon fall on the head of the Zheng family in Xingyang, and the Zheng family is the mother clan of Cui Jing's biological mother, the Zheng family.

Dasheng has a system of concealment between relatives, so there has always been an unwritten rule for relatives to avoid suspicion when handling cases. For example, in the Pei family case before, the Emperor Shengji specially ordered Yao Yi, who was the Minister of Dali Temple, to temporarily avoid him.

This is also a manifestation of the emperor's love for his courtiers.

But this time, the emperor specifically ordered Cui Jing to stay and suppress the nobles with the same roots as Cui Jing. If the Zheng family is involved in the future, Cui Jing can certainly avoid suspicion and not show up, but if he talks about avoiding suspicion then, it will be equivalent to watching indifferently. Such an attitude , is undoubtedly equivalent to asking Cui Jing to turn his back on the nobles and draw a clear line with the nobles head on.

The state has national laws, and the family has family rules, and many patriarchal clans even override foreign laws in a certain sense. Cui Jing will be infamous for this, and will be cast aside by the world's gentry and even people outside the gentry.

And if Cui Jing dared to go against his will and shield the Zheng family, if he was a little careless, he would be judged as a fellow party.

The emperor's move was to force Cui Jing to make the final choice. At this time, the imperial power of the country was in jeopardy. The emperor no longer needed a son of the Cui family to control the military power of Xuance's army. Even if she wanted to get this sharp sword back, But it also needs a name that makes sense to buffer the turmoil caused by seizing the sword.

However, this flood was unexpected by everyone. Cui Jing went to the Yellow River to repair the dam, and was able to temporarily stay away from the center of the whirlpool. This also prevented some criticisms from arising, and at the same time cut off the opportunity for some people to take advantage of the opportunity to do anything. .

"You could have rushed back in less of a hurry." Chang Sui Ning said.

"Yes." Cui Jing also looked at the scattered flames with her, and said slowly: "I know."

But he decided to come back.

The middle-aged man in a shirt was sitting cross-legged alone on a piece of graphite, looking far away in the direction of Xingyang. As time went by, the depressed expression on his face gradually became numb.

At this time, a thin figure came over and knelt down towards him in the darkness.

"Uncle Zheng!"

The man was a little surprised: "You are..."

The girl kneeling beside him raised her face and said, "I am the eldest daughter of Yuan's family, Yuan Miao. I met Uncle Zheng with my grandfather two years ago."

"So it's you." The man sighed almost imperceptibly: "I heard that your grandfather committed suicide in Luoyang Prison, and your father also..."

Tears welled up in the eyes of the fourteen or fifteen-year-old girl: "That's why I came to Xingyang to ask for help from the Zheng family to rescue my brother!"

But the man shook his head feebly.

The girl took a step forward on her knees and kowtowed her head: "Although I am young, I also know some right and wrong. I know that the Yuan family did collude with the rebels. The Yuan family has made mistakes and should bear the consequences, but this mistake should not be blamed. And the lives of my brother and other ignorant children!"

"Li Xian behaved cruelly, and often tortured and killed him under any pretext. He led his troops to surround even the homes of relatives from the side clan who had no idea about it, and they were not allowed to enter or exit. Those who resisted were killed, and those who did not dare to resist were killed. In more than ten days, most of them were starved to death and drowned! Many of them were innocent women and children. Even according to the law, they did not deserve to die!"

"They also killed prominent people from various ethnic groups and offered sacrifices to heaven in Luoyang City... Those who refused to surrender were even dragged and humiliated by them wantonly on the long street... Even ordinary people and scholars could not bear to see it, and they also knew that scholars It can be killed but not humiliated!"

Tears of grief and indignation burst out of the girl's eyes, and her voice was filled with hatred: "They are clearly venting their anger wantonly by acting like this. They clearly want to drive us all out, and they also want to smash the backbones of the world's scholars!"

The man closed his eyes, his eyelashes trembling slightly, and said nothing.

"Not only that, they also used the pretext of hunting down fugitives to take advantage of the flood to plunder innocent people's money. They..."

"No need to say more, the current situation dictates that no matter how many mistakes they make, it will not help." The man interrupted her and said, "This matter is not my responsibility. I am no longer the head of the Zheng family. I am just a useless person. Help I won’t do anything to you... Since you are lucky enough to save a life, leave as soon as possible, and go as far away as possible.”

"Uncle Zheng..." The man looked at where Xingyang was, his eyes filled with deathly silence: "The Zheng family cannot escape this disaster."

This would be a devastating disaster for the entire Central Plains gentry, and no one could escape.

In other words, he had long expected that this day would come. The prosperity must inevitably decline, and the decline of the noble clan was already doomed.

But he never thought that the way it withered would be such a cruel and brutal massacre... Although it had a history, it also had its roots in the world. Would it be destroyed like this for thousands of years?

The man's cold fingers clenched, suppressing the trace of helpless intolerance.

The girl still knelt there and refused to get up, crying like rain.

In the darkness, Chang Sui Ning looked at the kneeling figure from a distance and said, "That is the girl from the Yuan family in Luoyang."

After all, the girl from the aristocratic family had little experience in escaping, and her dagger had the Yuan clan emblem on it.

Cui Jing asked: "Why did you come to the rescue?"

"She asked me to save her." Chang Suining put his hands on his side, "I asked her if she needed help, she nodded, and I saved her."

Cui Jing raised the corners of her mouth slightly and said in a low voice: "Your Highness is really responsive to all requests."

Chang Suining also smiled, but the smile was not as deep as her eyes. She looked around in the distance and said: "I have never thought of intervening in the struggle between the nobles and the imperial power. I also do not have the ability and position to intervene. And I think that before, Pei No matter the family or the Changsun family, if they lose, they will lose. If they become a king and lose a bandit, they are willing to accept defeat. There is nothing wrong with it."

"I never thought of meddling in the catastrophe of the Luoyang gentry. In fact, I did the calculations. I also contributed to their catastrophe. I killed Xu Zhengye. Xu Zhengye's defeat was the first to cause their current catastrophe." .”

"There is also the Zheng family in Xingyang, who is also one of the four great families, and is your natal family." While Chang Suining was speaking, he turned to look at Cui Jing, "Cui Jing, do you blame me? "

Cui Jing also looked at her: "If I say it's strange——"

"That's strange." Chang Suining said without hesitation: "But even if I had to do it all over again, a hundred times, I would still have to kill Xu Zhengye."

Seeing her like this, Cui Jing's voice became even lower: "I know."

He said: "If it were me, it would be the same."

Therefore, he could not blame her, and he was not a three-year-old child who did not have the ability to distinguish real cause and effect. Even if she had not killed Xu Zhengye, the disaster for the world's nobles would have already been written.

Since the previous dynasty, the imperial power has wanted to get rid of the influence of the gentry. Suppressing the gentry has been the heartache of many emperors, and it is also the desire of the poor people in the world.

The current emperor proclaimed himself emperor as a woman, and the conflict of political interests further intensified the contradiction between the imperial power and the gentry, and it has become a life-and-death situation, which is inevitable.

Following the question of "weird or not", Chang Suining asked Cui Jing again: "Then do you recognize the existence of the gentry system?"

Cui Jing looked forward and said in a low voice: "What do you think, Your Highness?"

Chang Suining looked at the muddy young man beside him who had just returned from digging up the sand from the Yellow River.

He left home at a young age and entered the military camp at the age of 12. Over the years, he has been subjected to countless scoldings from the nobles.

"The existence of the gentry is indeed unfair. Putting aside the suppression of imperial power, this injustice is even more unfair to the poor scholars in the world." Cui Jing said: "Except for him, no one in the world knows about its arbitrariness and mistakes."

"Many times, whether a thing is fair or not depends on the position of each person. It is difficult for the victims to realize, or they will not easily admit the injustice." Chang Sui Ning said: "You are in it, It is actually very rare to be able to detect abnormalities early on with self-awareness."

So, in the final analysis, this is the root of Cui Jing's "rebellion".

What he wanted in his heart was completely contrary to the interests of his family. He couldn't agree with the way of life of the Cui family and other gentry, so he embarked on a path that was not recognized by the clan.

"When I was young and naive, I tried to persuade my grandfather. My grandfather was not a rigid gentry leader who didn't know how to adapt. However, it has been passed down from generation to generation. Just like sailing a ship, the helmsman alone cannot easily change the direction of travel." Cui Jing said: "But I I have always believed that everything depends on human effort, and there is not only a dead end ahead.”

Chang Suining: "Can I think that when you first chose to join the army, you were actually trying to make another plan for the Cui family?"

"Yes." Cui Jing answered seriously: "But not entirely."

Chang Suining couldn't help but look at him and said sincerely: "You are a very good general and a very good disciple of the Cui family."

He woke up early, but was destined not to be understood.

Chang Sui Ning no longer asked Cui Jing what she thought, nor did she insist on discussing the rights and wrongs of the noble clans. She looked into the distance and said: "This is the Central Plains, the heart of China. It has always been said that the Central Plains can be achieved." He who conquers the world, this place is not only a place where military strategists compete, but also because it has accumulated over thousands of years, forming a splendid and profound Heluo culture."

What is "unfortunate" is that the foundation of Heluo culture is still tied to these noble families, and most of them are still passed down from generation to generation.

"These things that have been passed down for a long time allow the people to follow the rules and the state's laws to govern. If it completely collapses overnight and is burned to the ground, it will take a long time to reappear."

These etiquette are related to political stability.

If these cultures were to be cut off, this failure would not be temporary, but would last for a long time in future generations.

Just like the bright stars, if they are connected and become hidden threats, they can be scattered and dimmed for a while, but if they are completely crushed, is it too much or not?

And this time the situation is particularly special, man-made disasters collided with natural disasters, and the combination of the two is enough to destroy all seemingly solid foundations.

"There is no right or wrong in political struggle, but I do not agree with Li Xian's act of extermination." Chang Suining said bluntly: "These cultural foundations, which have been passed down for thousands of years, should not be slaughtered and ruined."

This time, as usual, she didn't want to talk about right or wrong, she just wanted to do what she wanted to do.

Therefore, she wanted to intervene and seek a "compromise" from it.

Chang Suining stood up and looked at Cui Jing: "Would you like to give it a try together?"

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